10 rupee note

I have very friendly neighbors – a married marwari couple (I call them Bhabhi and Bhayya) with 3 lil kids. This blog is inspired by an incident narrated to me by my mom. It goes like:

The other day the Bhabhi was running high fever due to some infection and being a good friend my mom was giving her some company, watching TV at neighbor’s place. Bhabhi was resting. Bhabhi calls for the youngest son nicknamed ‘Don’. She instructs him to carry out the house cleaning for the day as she is not feeling well and promises that she will pay him 10 bucks if he does the job well. My mom suggested that there is no need to pay him as you are not feeling well, it won’t be a big deal if he does the household work for a day. Bhabhi says its okay and changes the topic to something else. Meanwhile the kid turns on the vacuum cleaner and takes his own sweet time to cleaning the house. After he is done with the work, the don gets back to Bhabhi and says, “I have done the work, give me 10 bucks”. His mom, gets up from the bed, walks to the closet, takes out a 10 rupee note and pays him.

My mom was quite shocked by the whole incident; she was wondering how can a kid in 2nd standard of school ask for money to clean the house especially when the mother is having high fever! My mom scolds the kid, “Don, come here. Return the money to your mother. You can't ask for money for cleaning your own house especially when your mother is not feeling well!” The young Don comes back with a tricky one. He answers with confidence, “Suhas dada goes out for work & he comes back with money, Sandeep dada (my younger bro) goes out for work & comes back with money, Uncle goes out for work and comes back with money. But when I work, why shouldn’t I get paid? Even I have to work and earn. I deserve the money & will not return it!” My mom was taken by a surprise by this answer while Bhabhi started laughing.

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I have been wondering for years: why marwaris are the most successful when it comes to business? The question was answered by a marwari kid: find the opportunity to earn, work, and then demand the money because you deserve it. Look at the attitude! I don’t think many kids studying in 2nd standard can think like that. Here is a marwari kid that strongly believes the concept that ‘he deserves money for whatever work he does’. Now ask yourself a question: does he really need to pass out from a top management school to prosper?

(For all those who think the answer is yes, you are good at what you do. Spend rest of your life working for someone else.)